The Best of Greyhawk Presents Best of Greyhawk #1 Edited by Leo DiBenigno and Nathan E. Irving Revised September 28, 1999 pdf’d October 24, 2000, by Tal Meta NOTES FROM ROGER MOORE...................................................................... 2 By Roger Moore "All the notes in the folder from one of TSR's legends, wherein he shares his thoughts on Greyhawk and divulges many secrets" DRUIDS IN GREYHAWK ............................................................................... 10 By various posters "Many different views and suggestions regarding the Great Druid and nature priests in Greyhawk" GREYHAWK CHRONOLOGY....................................................................... 18 by various posters "An extensive discussion attempting to rectify some prominent discrepancies in the classic modules and suggested order of playing the modules to form a grand epic" Originally posted on the AOL/TSR Greyhawk Message Board, folder #1. ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS, AD&D, GREYHAWK and WORLD OF GREYHAWK are registered trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. All TSR characters, character names, and the distinctive likenesses thereof are trademarks owned by TSR, Inc. TSR, Inc. is a subsidiary of Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Unless otherwise noted, all individual contributions copyright their respective authors. 1 Notes from Roger Moore Subj: A Note from Roger Moore Pt 1 95-02-21 13:58:03 EST From: TSR Inc I had an interesting time last weekend looking over the messages on this topic. (Thank you for the welcome, Tamerlain.) I came up with a few comments to add to the topic of continuing GREYHAWK(R) campaigns. One consistent complaint here about running Oerth campaigns is that a guiding vision is needed in structuring adventures and background material. I think that *any* DM can reconstruct parts of that vision by sitting down with whatever modules and accessories are deemed acceptable for that campaign (no matter who wrote them), getting out a notepad and a pencil, and writing down all the elements that these products have in common, including the things these modules imply about the world at large. For example, look at the early AD&D(R) modules for the GREYHAWK setting. (Forgive me for the capitals and trademarking in my posts, but 12 years of working with the Legal department have convinced me that life is best served by doing the Correct Thing.) Anyway, take a moment and think about what the following adventures have in common: A1-4 Slavers modules, GDQ Giants-Drow-Abyss series, T1-4 Temple of Elemental Evil, EX1-2 Dungeonland modules, S1-4 Realms of Terror modules, WG4-6 Tharizdun/Mordenkainen/Ape mo dules. Time's up. Here's my list: 1. They're all about dungeons--sneaking through underground complexes and beating up evil monsters and taking their valuables. That sounds pretty self-evident, but it is also a rather important distinction when you look at how proactive the adventurers of Oerth are apparently supposed to be (or how fast they deliver retribution). These adventures take place in reaction to the maneuvers of evil forces, and the PCs merely carry the fight directly home to the bad guys. You can think of the early GREYHAWK adventures as commando raids: sudden, violent, destructive, and decisively solving large problems in quick order. You don't worry about merchandising, diplomacy, or anything else that involves talking your way through things. You swing your sword and the problem is gone. 2. Each of these adventures epitomizes the philosophy that "nothing is as it seems." The PCs start out facing a certain localized threat that turns out to be a part of a broader regional threat, which is in turn a part of an even greater threat to the whole world, and so on. The GDQ series demonstrates this extremely well, but the same pattern is followed in A1-4 and T1-4, with lesser echoes in other modules. It's like peeling an onion. Each layer of adventure and mystery, when peeled off, reveals a new and unsuspected layer beneath it. Every puppet has a master, and that master has a greater master. You never know when the last grand plot or last master has been found. Great, world-threatening plots are spun out in small ways, supported by small people who support greater ones, and so on. The small evil people cannot see or comprehend the great scheme of which they are only a part. They get their cut, then go home. Questioning a flunky gains the heroes little except, perhaps, the name of someone a little higher in the evil hierarchy. (And only one or two top people in a particular area know who their commander is on the next level of the hierarchy.) Low-level heroes start out in the same way; they aren't able to fully comprehend the danger because they don't have all the information. Knowledge is gained painfully, step by step, in all old GREYHAWK modules. Behind all great GREYHAWK schemes, however, is a great villain--perhaps two or more acting in concert, but often just one with plenty of helpers and aides. Even the most chaotic events often have a logical structure to them, a deliberate and purposeful motion toward an unseen but surely unwelcome end. Note that no GREYHAWK villains (that I've heard of) ever come right out and say, "I'm taking over the world." The villain instead *acts* to take over the world, not bothering to broadcast the news verbally; talk is cheap, and time is precious. (I recall the dialog in the first <Superman> movie between Superman and Lex Luthor: "Is that how you get your kicks, Luthor? By planning the deaths of millions of innocent people?" "No--by *causing* the deaths of millions of innocent people.") 3. Secrets are paramount in Oerth. (It's no accident that Vecna, in <Vecna Lives>, is so closely tied to secrecy and plots.) Mystery is everywhere. The unexpected is all you can expect. Heroes must put together the pieces of the puzzle, the activities that they see happening, to gain insight into the master villain's motives. It would be very un- Greyhawkish for a villain to make his full intentions clear. There are too many meddling gods, demigods, and heroes around who would love to see a bad guy telegraph his next moves. ("Say, Tyranna!" "Yes, Great Heironeous?" "That Iuz just said he was going to attack in the west! Be a good underling and organize an army and put a stop to it." "At once, Your Deityship!") Instead, as noted above, little things are done that add up to bigger things, which in turn make 2 bigger ones. A few kidnappings, done in many places widely scattered, add up to a large slaver ring. An uprising of hill giants on Oerth is just a part of a massive series of conflicts on many worlds (as per Q1), part of Lolth's attempts to conquer the known multiverse. 4. Many of the early modules show a preoccupation with what I call "pocket universes." Oerth is obviously a world crawling with gates to other planes, worlds, dimensions, times, etc. Look at the modules: G-series modules are linked by teleporters; Q1 has many, many gates; the Isle of the Ape is a pocket universe, as are the places in the EX series and S4. Obviously, having your own pocket universe is quite a status symbol in the Flanaess among the High and Mighty, and well it should be if Oerth is actually a uniquely potent nexus world for entering and exiting numerous other planes and settings. Interestingly, some of the plots in the early GREYHAWK adventures revolve around other- universe invasions, Lolth being the prime example. The AD&D 1st Edition DMG gives game mechanics for converting PCs to TSR's early Wild West and science-fantasy games. Some of the quasi deities described in DRAGON(R) issue #71 are universe-crossers. (Indeed, one of them, Murlynd, is a "magitech" genre-crosser, as his home in EX1 makes abundantly clear.) 5. The early adventures, though having devious traps, creatively vile monsters, and unexpected discoveries about Who Is Really In Charge, are also very straightforward and often unadorned. They are very practical, action- packed dungeon crawls with less-developed background stories that one often sees in typical DUNGEON(R) Adventures modules. Villains are often sketched in with little personality detail except their battle tactics. This in no way discredits the early modules, because I played in many of them and loved them dearly. The thrust is pretty direct, however. Things are clearly in black and white, good and evil. You know who and where the bad guys are, and you go kill them and take their treasures because they are bad and don't deserve to be rich. YOU are the hero and YOU deserve to be rich. One must admit this is a very appealing and powerful theme; it sure worked for me and my groups in the late 1970s. Life was simpler then, eh? 6. Magical devices from Oerth, though sometimes clever and appealing, are pretty unadorned themselves. Rare is the long sword +3 that has any history or personality worth mentioning; magical devices, except for the most powerful ones, are regarded as tools and nothing more--very, very, very nice tools, perhaps, but they exist only to get a job done. 7. Evil is on the rise on Oerth. I disagree with some in this forum who say that <From the Ashes> was a radical departure from earlier material. A constant theme hammered home in almost every early GREYHAWK module is that very powerful entities are extremely interested in conquering and ruining the world. Assaults by evil forces are not at all unusual; they are, in fact, constant and extreme.